Former South Wales Scorpions winger handed seven-year ban for second anti-doping offence

A former rugby league player from Nelson has been banned for seven years and three months by regulatory body UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) for a second violation.

Ross Bevan, 24, has been suspended from all sport until January 2024 after he refused to submit to testing in September 2016.

In June 2015, Bevan was banned for two years following a positive test for the banned steroid drostanolone in February of that year, the same month he switched codes from playing rugby union for Nelson RFC to rugby league for South Wales Scorpions.

The Scorpions were based at Virginia Park, Caerphilly, until their rebrand as South Wales Ironmen saw them move to Merthyr Tydfil last year.

Bevan’s latest ban comes after he refused to submit to testing in September 2016.

On 28 September 2016, he refused to provide a sample to a UKAD Doping Control Officer at his home address, and was subsequently charged with ‘Evading, Refusing, or Failing to Submit to Sample Collection’.

Bevan was banned for eight years, which was reduced by nine months after he admitted the charge at the earliest opportunity, and is suspended from all sport until midnight on January 14 2024, backdated from October 14 2016.

UKAD’s Director of Operations, Pat Myhill, said: “Any athlete who is currently banned remains subject to testing in order to limit the chances of them continuing to use performance enhancing substances whilst banned and then returning to sport.

“Therefore, it is of vital importance that they make themselves available to us when called upon.

“Mr Bevan’s refusal to submit to sample collection whilst already serving a period of ineligibility is not only a second serious breach of the Anti-Doping Rules but also his core responsibilities as an athlete.

“We treat violations such as this with the utmost seriousness and would implore athletes of all levels to comply or potentially face a lengthy ban from all sport.”